Contains junk from my college days to applying the Dilbert principle at work to theater to nostalgia to Jim Morrison to Schumi to friends to getting old and none the wiser, and more recently, Indian socio-political commentary: or, just blah blah and more blah

Saturday, August 08, 2009

The paramilitaries have been accused of human-rights abuses by UN observers.

The paramilitaries have been accused by UN observers of torture and murder.

UN observers accused the paramilitaries of torture and murder.

Active, not passive. Be direct. A hit B describes the event more concisely than B was hit by A. Tone. Use the language of everyday speech, not that of spokesmen, lawyers or bureaucrats (so prefer let to permit, people to persons, buy to purchase, colleague to peer, way out to exit, present to gift, rich to wealthy, break to violate). It is sometimes useful to talk of human-rights abuses but often the sentence can be rephrased more pithily and more accurately.

Use the subjunctive properly. If you are posing a hypothesis contrary to fact, you must use the subjunctive. Thus, If Hitler were alive today, he could tell us whether he kept a diary. If the hypothesis may or may not be true, you do not use the subjunctive: If this diary is not Hitler's, we shall be glad we did not publish it. If you have would in the main clause, you must use the subjunctive in the if clause. If you were to disregard this rule, you would make a fool of yourself.

Avoid, where possible, euphemisms and circumlocutions promoted by interest-groups. The hearing impaired are simply deaf. It is no disrespect to the disabled sometimes to describe them as crippled. Female teenagers are girls, not women. The underprivileged may be disadvantaged, but are more likely just poor. Shoot off, or rather shoot, as many prepositions after verbs as possible. Thus people can meet rather than meet with, companies can be bought and sold rather than bought up and sold off; budgets can be cut rather than cut back, plots can be hatched but not hatched up, organisations should be headed by rather than headed up by chairmen just as markets should be freed rather than freed up. And children can be sent to bed rather than sent off to bed.

Respect the gerund. Gerunds look like participles--running, jumping, standing--but are more noun-like, and should never therefore be preceded by a personal pronoun. So the following are wrong: I was awoken by him snoring. He could not prevent them drowning. Please forgive me coming late. Those sentences should have ended: his snoring, their drowning, my coming late. In other words, use the possessive adjective rather than the personal pronoun.

The last issue of The Daily Globe implies our extinction; prefer last week's or the latest issue. Likewise, avoid the last issue of Foreign Affairs: prefer the latest, current, most recent or (eg) June issue, or this month's or last month's issue.

Last year, in 2000, means 1999; if you mean the 12 months up to the time of writing, write the past year. The same goes for the past month, and so on.

Though the idea of free trade is well loved by economists, it is a little-respected principle in the world of politics.

Though the idea of free trade is well-loved by economists, it is a little respected principle in the world of politics.

Though the idea of free trade is well-loved by economists, it is a little-respected principle in the world of politics.

Adverbs do not need to be linked to participles or adjectives by hyphens in simple constructions: The regiment was ill equipped for its task; The principle is well established; Though expensively educated, the journalist knew no grammar. But if the adverb is one of two words together being used adjectivally, a hyphen may be needed: The ill-equipped regiment was soon repulsed; All well-established principles should be periodically challenged. The hyphen is especially likely to be needed if the adverb is short and common, such as ill, little, much and well. Less-common adverbs, including all those that end in -ly, are less likely to need hyphens: Never employ an expensively educated journalist.

At a meeting, the unions and management tried to find a way to prevent the strike.

At a key meeting, the labour unions and top management hoped to find a way to prevent the coming strike.

At a key meeting, the labour unions and top management hoped to find a way to prevent the coming strike action.

Unnecessary words: Some words add nothing but length to your prose. Use adjectives to make your meanings more precise and be cautious of those you find yourself using to make it more emphatic. The word very is a case in point. If it occurs in a sentence you have written, try leaving it out. The omens were good may have more force than The omens were very good.

Starting salaries of over $100,000 per annum, a part of the dizzy Zeitgeist of the dotcom era, are now but a memory.

Starting salaries of over $100,000 a year, part of the dizzy Zeitgeist of the dotcom era, are now but a memory.

Starting salaries of over $100,000 a year, part of the dizzy spirit of the dotcom era, are now but a memory.

Try not to use foreign words and phrases unless there is no English alternative, which is unusual (so a year or per year, not per annum; a person or per person, not per capita; beyond one's authority, not ultra vires; and so on).

The economy is being led slowly up to the gallows, while the politicians fiddle and foreign reserves swirl down the drain.

Though Tony Blair's first known dramatic role was Mark Antony in "Julius Caesar", he now seems to prefer playing Hamlet.

Who knows what will emerge from the Pandora's box of looser fiscal policy?

Keep in mind George Orwell's rule, "Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print... There is a huge dump of wornout metaphors which are merely used because they save people the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves."

Also avoid extravagant, and especially mixed, figures of speech. These two sentences were used as an opening paragraph to arrest the readers of A.N.Other newspaper:

Bulgaria is on its knees. A long-simmering economic crisis has erupted, gripping the country in a fierce and unrelenting embrace.